Goats, cattle, & wheat?
We finally got the wheat sowed for the goats today. We are crossing our fingers for a good wheat crop this year for our Savanna herd to run on.
Did you know running cattle with goats makes a great combination? One of the biggest problems you hear about goats is their worm loads. I believe a lot of that can be blamed on mineral deficiencies or general management, but that is a whole nother story and getting off-topic. Raising cattle with goats is an amazing combination because of several reasons. Goats will eat things the cattle will not, and clean pastures up, but my favorite reason may be, the fact that a cow can ingest a worm from the goats, and completely kill that worm without being affected.
Those of you that have read some of my previous Blogs are fully aware of the troubles we had at the beginning of our goat adventure, and why/how we landed on Savannas. We can run this breed of goat as closely as anyone can a goat, in the same manner as we have cattle in the past. Savannas are capable of being managed in this manner, whereas we learned the hard way with several other breeds, they did not have the stamina, will to live, or parasite tolerance that we have had with the Savanna in general while being capable of producing a good meat goat. Wheat forage provides succulent and highly nutritious feed for cattle, sheep, and goats. The forage is palatable; high in protein, energy, and minerals. You need very little other than a good loose goat formulated mineral, to keep the kids and dams in good condition and growing well.
We opened a few eyes with cattle producers so far, proving it cannot only be done but done easily enough that very few adjustments need to be made between cattle and goats. More and more cattle producers are calling and asking questions. Several are starting to look into goats to raise alongside their cattle and advancing the chevon industry. Who would have ever thought goats can be raised like cattle, but make a bigger return? If you are familiar with the agriculture industry, you know most have to have diversity to survive.
In comparing a calf crop to a kid's crop. Here are some of the facts. The gestation period for a cow is 9 months. Then depending on what weight you want the calf to sell, you will have several more months of feeding that calf. The majority of the time, a cow will only ever have a single calf, twins, and triplets or more is pretty rare. Now for the goat. The gestation period is 5 months long. We wean at 3 months old, we hold them for 2 weeks to 4 weeks after weaning, before selling. So in 8 to 9 Months, I have a goat to sell for profit (the cow still has not calved in this time period, or is just about to) BUT goats are known for having multiples. So I may not just have 1 kid to sell I may have 2,3, or more depending on how many that dam had. Goat prices are insanely high, we have had some bring upwards of $5/ pound just for meat! This is not to include the ones that we sell for seed stock. Now let's talk stocking rate, depending on the year, we can stock 7-10 head of goats for every ONE cow we can stock. Now you are starting to see the big picture. More goats equal more kids, at very good market prices, with the same input cost on the same amount of land, cleaning up what cattle will not eat, or even being able to run them on pasture right beside them.
Goat meat consumption in the United States has increased by 320% since 1999. Around 1.5 million goats are consumed in America every year. With that being said, WE IMPORT the majority of the goat meat consumed in the USA, due to the shortage of goats being grown here. This is why the market continues to stay so strong. More and more Americans are finding that goat meat is actually a very healthy choice. Chevon is a healthier alternative to other red meats like beef, lamb, and pork. It is naturally lean, very nutritious, and has a range of health benefits. The meat has less fat, less saturated fat, more iron, and about the same amount of protein compared to beef, pork, lamb, or chicken. GOAT IS ONE OF THE MOST EATEN MEATS IN THE WORLD.
There are several ways to do things, and I by no means say our way is the only way or best way. It works well for us. Not only does it work well for us, but demonstrates Savannas can adapt to a new way of management rather easily, just proves further how awesome this breed is. We have seen people successfully modeling their programs after ours. Whether they have a few acres or a lot, wheat and other crops are proving themselves as a nutritious, sustainable diet for making lots of good healthy chevon.
Texas A&M AgriLife Sheep and Goat Extension, actually have a study ongoing right now, on the benefits of using sheep to eat the weeds in cotton, in hopes of making it so that eventually one day maybe certain chemicals will not have to be relied on as heavily. I am sure most of you have been seeing the videos going around, where goats are being used to clean up undesirable forage, to help prevent Wild Fires. There is a whole lot of good to be done and had with these critters, and I feel like we are barely even scratching the surface.
If you are looking at getting into goats, give us a holler, we don't sugarcoat much. We will tell you the good, the bad, and the ugly about raising goats. But after reading this, you already have the idea of some of the goods they reap.
